Parlour taken out of squad

Paul Ince's England reprieve is unlikely to survive a conviction for common assault this week. Swift retribution on Arsenal's Ray Parlour shows that England coach Terry Venables and the Football Association will no longer tolerate player indiscipline damaging the game's reputation.

Parlour, fined for attacking a taxi driver in Hong Kong, was yesterday thown out of the England squad for their European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Latvia on 7 June. Ince, however, has been included in Venables' Umbro Cup squad to play Brazil, Sweden and Japan, despite his appearance at Croydon magistrates' court.

David Davies indicated the tough attitude of the FA when he announced Parlour's removal from the squad, saying: "It was not thought right that he should represent his country in the circumstances. Each case - and hopefully there will be very few, if any, more - will be judged on its merits."

Venables defended his decision to recall Ince, having dropped him for the March friendly with Uruguay. "There is no case as yet. I could leave him out and then there would be no problem and I would have made a mistake. I've got to wait and see what happens. I will monitor it."

Wolves are confident of completing the signing of Dean Richards, the central defender on loan to them from Bradford City for the last two months of the season, for a club-record fee of more than pounds 1.5m.

Alan Ball has signed a new three-year managerial contract with Southampton. The deal is understood to guarantee Ball pounds 70,000 a year. The Newcastle midfielder, Paul Bracewell, has joined Sunderland, for a third time, to become assistant manager to Peter Reid.

Sheffield Wednesday are the latest club to snub the controversial Intertoto Cup, which gives a Uefa Cup place to the quarter-final winners. They have told the Premier League that they would not be interested in one of the three English invitations to the summer tournament. Tottenham, Queen's Park Rangers and Wimbledon have already indicated that they do not wish to take part.